Train operator East Coast is encouraging passengers to book tickets as soon as possible for travel over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

East Coast has opened its reservations system for advance booking on its train services up to and including Tuesday, 3 January 2012.

As an extra incentive to encourage early bookings, East Coast is offering double the usual number of Rewards points for East Coast First and Standard Advance tickets purchased on its website, www.eastcoast.co.uk, by members of its recently-launched loyalty points scheme until Friday 14 October 2011.

New members of the East Coast Rewards scheme qualify for 100 bonus points on joining – enough to buy 48 hours of free East Coast Wi-Fi in Standard Class, or 20 per cent towards a free First Class return ticket (worth 500 points) on East Coast trains.

Every £1 spent with East Coast at www.eastcoast.co.uk earns one Rewards point – or one and a half points if a First Class ticket is bought. Customers can earn Rewards points on any train journey with any operator, on any route – not just East Coast – when they buy at www.eastcoast.co.uk.

Customers registered for email alerts through the East Coast website will receive a special message to let them know the popular Advance fares for the festive season go on sale from tomorrow.

East Coast’s Commercial and Customer Service Director Peter Williams said: “East Coast’s Advance fares offer great value for those who plan ahead, especially those who buy via our website, www.eastcoast.co.uk. Our cheapest fares are only available through our website.

“This year, with the added incentive of double Rewards points for First and Standard Advance tickets bought on our website from Friday 7 to Friday 14 October, we’re expecting to be busier than ever in the next week – so now is the time to be thinking about buying tickets, reserving seats and joining East Coast Rewards for travel over Christmas and the New Year.”

As usual, train services are expected to be especially busy in the week before Christmas, and customers are being encouraged to make reservations to guarantee a seat. Seat reservations are free of charge for Advance ticket holders.

City.Mobi

Also in Europe today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to London.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

London.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.